


Strangers

by yellowclod



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Acceptance, Character Study, Complicated Relationships, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Healing, Healthy Relationships, Post-Canon, beauty in dissonance, really trying but its difficult, rejuvenated pink diamond, seeing earth's beauty, su: far future, trying to help your friend regain her memories, trying to regain memories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29306409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowclod/pseuds/yellowclod
Summary: In the kind-of-distant future, a rejuvenated Pink Diamond emerges out of the thought to be dormant gem of Steven Universe and Rose Quartz. Confusion and angst among the core crystal gems ensue while they try to restore her memory (with some humor and fluff along the way). Rose Quartz character study.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Strangers

*Clink! Clink, clincliclicli…*

A terrifying sound for sure, if anyone were there to hear it. This has happened often, the believed to be dormant gem of the now-deceased Steven Universe and his mother, Rose Quartz, falling from its resting place within the wall of their now old home on the coast of Beach City. They have yet to find a better place for an item that means an extraordinary amount to them. From the Crystal Gems’ point of view, it only made sense that the tip of the gem not be shown due to the true identity of Pink Diamond being rejected by both owners within their life; this simultaneously means putting it at a slippery, tilted angle.

The gem falling would generally not be an issue. Despite saddening the residents of the temple an extraordinary amount, the gem from their perspectives was completely dormant. The chances of reform had come and gone upon Steven’s passing 15 years ago; a gem not reforming for such a timeframe was frankly ridiculous. Now it would wait until it was solemnly placed back into its slot in the shelf, surrounded by the bottom half of Rose’s sword and countless of Steven’s precious belongings.

This time around it would be a bit different. The rays of the sun, brilliant in their bright yellow morning hue shining through the windows of the beach home, hit the pink gem at just the correct angle. This triggered something deep within the gem, a gentle repetitive pulse of consciousness not seen from the diamond in many years.

It’s rejuvenated, new form would be lonely upon emerging for the first time, perspective-wise. The gem, lifting itself up and glowing in the process, fell onto the Crystal Gems’ living room floor and coffee table in an awkward position, hurting herself and (adding onto the unfolding disaster-waiting-to-happen) snapping the table in half. 

“Aah,” the newly rejuvenated diamond yelped rather flatly before getting up, rubbing the area of her head where she had hit.

She rose and took in her surroundings for the first time; feeling curiosity with an underlying sense of confusion. Looking left, and then to the right, she took in the various surroundings of the beach house as well as the beach which she could see through the large, bright windows. Being too big for the room upon forming, she was forced to duck which in turn caused her a bit of distress. Her mind was on her various surroundings rather than her awkward position, however, being completely and utterly enamored by what was being presented to her.

She slowly started walking around the perimeter of the room, making sure to duck her head while closely looking at the various objects laid before her. Looking around with a rather careless demeanor, she eventually grew infatuated by a pink-colored sword remnant, looking closely at its resting place on the highest point of the shelf from various different angles, thinking about whata broken sword might have been used for. Slowly taking it from its resting place off the shelf, she laid the blade chunk in her palm, catching the first glimpse of her reflection in the process but paying little mind to the face that appeared in front of her. Rotating the sword chunk, she felt the contrast between the smooth inner area and the more matte texture near the sharp end where her palm carefully crept towards, until-

“OW!” she yelped once again while shaking her left hand, dropping the fragmented sword in a frantic fashion. How should she have known that touching the sharp edge would cause such an unpleasant feeling? She thought of this as incredibly strange- something that was so interesting at first had only hurt her in the end. 

Still, she was enamored by a sense of curiosity. She picked the pink half-sword up off the ground, this time holding it by its darker, less sharp handle, and very lightly put pressure on the part she had hurt herself with only a few seconds ago. A light but sharp pain started to form along the middle of her right palm, and she jerked her hand away immediately.  _ How strange… _ she thought, eyes full of wonder even when faced with an unpleasant situation. She had done this a few more times until ultimately losing interest.

Placing the half-sword haphazardly back where she had found it, the gem observes her surroundings once more, again stuck with a now-familiar sense of curiousity for her surroundings. She couldn’t place a name to any of the objects within the house at all upon further observation, but still had a sense of language and thought. This isn't something she minded, just being here made all the difference.  


She soon realized that being slouched for extended periods of time eventually causes pain. She sat cross-legged on the floor, tossing aside the broken coffee table her fall had smashed in half while doing so and feeling much relief after the fact.  


_ Wow, *much* better… _ she passively thought upon relieving herself of the growing neck pain. She sat, and once again started to observe what was in front of her (this time, largely the ocean waves and clouds outside, seeming such a distance away).

She sat and absorbed the sun's rays now shining across her entire body.    


* * *

This repetivie series of events continued for many minutes, looking outside while occasionally glancing at the large, mysterious door to the left of her and the stairs to the right, but over time a feeling of  _ dullness and restlessness _ started to wash over her. She would tap her five fingers in a line with a growing tempo, eventually building to putting her leg up and bouncing it until the feeling subsided. It never did, truthfully, but the repeated movements soothed her and made the restlessness she was experiencing far less prominent. Sitting still to her immensely young mind was a real drag, but the repetition of moving a single part of her body for long periods of time just kind of seemed to *click* in her mind. Calming, just like the sun and the gentle hum of waves below. 

This would continue for many minutes until she once again got bored or tired. There seemed to be a pattern of repetitious actions she would take in the small living room, being largely unaware that she could step outside or take any of the branching paths within the house- she would first admire everything around her with much curiosity, usually focusing in on one single item or a set of items, grow bored with it, and sit down while not doing much except bouncing her leg or pulling her fingers while looking at the ocean and sky. Many items she would look at broke by various means, like pulling too hard or touching the wrong places.

In one instance, the gem started digging through a strange, colorful board game called  _ Sorry!,  _ gem glyph version. 

_ Sorry? Sorry for what? I do not think I did anything wrong... _ She thought with an ounce of confusion. Her ability to detect any kind of meaning aside from the literal meaning of words and phrases left a lot to be desired. 

She pulled out the board and all its insides, placing them haphazardly on the ground next to her while taking special note of the cool ball thing in the middle of the board. When she got everything she could out of it, not much care was placed into reassembling it in a tidy manner. She was done with it, putting it back together seemed kind of pointless, especially seeing as she had already seen how it was neatly and tidily assembled within the box (a kind of tidiness she found very endearing, but couldn’t place her finger on why). She left it on the floor.

Another instance had her admiring a controller. 

_ Ahh! Not again! _ The diamond thought with growing contempt. She had snapped a strange, purple two-pronged device right in half just by pulling. She had no idea where it came from, why it was there, but this still frustrated her to no end- all she wanted to do was look at it! Placing the two halves back on the shelf she had found them on, she once again sat down in her usual position. The house was starting to feel cramped, mostly in part due to the mental fog accumulated by constant accidental mistakes, small as they were.

Glancing over at the mess she had made in the minutes before, she noted how her formation and actions had made a mark on the previously clean house. She didn’t feel a sense of shame necessarily but did find it *interesting* that the mark she had made in her time within the house was rather messy, to put it lightly. And what a transition it was from being so cutely organized! A light disappointment at herself put a cloud over her mental state, but at the same time putting the entire mess back together seemed like a real drag. Turning away gently, she started making her way towards the front door, attempting to be cautious as to not damage anything further.

* * *

The feeling of the outdoors was certainly a unique one for the gem. The first feeling she noted upon exiting was the feeling of *everything*; that is to say, every sensory input overlapping each other to form a crescendo of feeling right now, in her present moment. She looked first to the left, and then to the right, scanning the beach in front of her while a light breeze enveloped her entire body. Her gem, subconsciously analyzing the present experience in a thorough manner, was unable to place a name to her general area. In her current mind, she didn’t care or didn’t  _ need _ to care, she felt its beauty all the same and regarded it as such. Peaceful, a gentle feeling. 

Taking note of the now overcast sky, she moved forward and down the hill to observe her general area a bit more. One of the first things she noticed upon making her way toward the shore was the town closeby, just out of sight due to a large cliffside populated by a huge stone sculpture. She began walking slowly to her left, particularly infatuated by the many parts of the stone sculpture that seemed to have broken off at one time or another. She felt the stone of a broken hand buried deep in the beach and laid in between its fingers. A sense of warmth vibrated off the hand, though she couldn’t understand why; it made her want to melt into the hands’ palm and become one with it, though how this would be achieved she wasn’t sure.

Leaving behind the peaceful moment in time where she laid with a big hand (she regarded this as this wonderfully silly), she watched the house she had emerged in get smaller and smaller while the distance between them only increased. From here, she could see the town close to her much more clearly, the growing urge to explore it and discover all its wonderful secrets was certainly there. Taking a seat by the shore, she stared off into the ocean while hearing the distant chatter of what she could only assume to be others like her. In her short time of existence, she loved feelings most of all.  


**Author's Note:**

> Hihi thanks for reading! This story concept was originally conceptualized back when the movie aired and had gone through many forms and changes until settling on this medium. I am not the best writer, but writing and solidifying the first few events of the story was super fun (if not a bit of a challenge)... apologies if it seems a bit disjointed by the way! The biggest challenge thus far was writing with zero character interaction, in this case simply describing the first hour-ish of being alive (from her perspective). I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to read my silly fic, and I hope you enjoy it in one way or another.
> 
> -yellowclod/shpong
> 
> (side note: all art done throughout the fic is by me if you are wondering!)


End file.
